Tobi Writes
Correspondent III

Tobi Writes

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About

At one point, I could write. I used to write for my high school and college papers. Now I am an older guy filled with opinions who can't seem to put the words together as concisely or clearly anymore and at times have trouble keeping names straight. Hopefully this venue will help me force myself to improve as a writer.

So far I like Bleacher Report, although the canned pictured of players tend to be a few years out of date. It's a little weird to write a College Football story and put up a picture of a guy who graduated four years ago.

What do I care about? Canada, oddly enough. Last year, I visited Canada for the first time since I was five and fell in love with the country and the people. In spite of being a bitterly cold place, I like it. I hope one day soon to contribute something to Canadian sports. I am enthralled by the potential of Canadian Sports. I think massive changes are on the way and if done right Canadians could have very comparable sports to ours in the US without the massive systematic headaches (mostly financial) we have built into ours down here. I would love to be a part of that.

I love pro and collegiate sports, but I hate how they rip off the public. I dream of a North America where sports teams don't hold communities ransom to build palatial stadiums. I hope to be part of the cure there as well.

I am a big fan of the original USFL, David Dixon, Christopher B. Hemmeter of the WFL, and Al Davis (in spite of the Raiders' franchise moves). I have an interest in sub-NFL football leagues and would love to one day play a role in building leagues that break the monopolies of the Big 4 sports leagues (NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB). AIM high, eh?

I find the NFL to be colossally boring. I think the CFL may be irredeemable (but we will see). I am morbidly curious to see what happens with the UFL. They have some really clever ideas and people, but IMO, a really bad premise will likely kill them.

I am a fan of college football from my early youth in Hawaii. (Sad to see the University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors drop the "rainbow". Damn those knuckleheads who took out the rainbow. Hawaii is "The Rainbow State". You are a wimp when you let someone steal your identity because you are scared of the associations.) I am also a fan of many Texas publics at lower levels like UNT, UTA, Houston, WT, Texas State, UTSA, and UTPA as well as neighboring schools like NMSU, UCO, and ORU.

I would kill to be a part of the committee reworking CIS. It could and should be a major financial success that the NCAA should eye enviously.

I would love to work on rebranding project for a school like UNT, UTA, UTPA, or NMSU.

Stand back while I knock it up a notch...

Short List

  • Favorite Athletes

    Roger Staubach. Dirk Nowitski. Randy White. Ed "Too Tall" Jones. Darren Woodson. Dan Fouts. Tony Dorsett. Michael Irvin. Nate Newton. Mark Tuinei. Jim Kelly. Cliff Stoudt.

  • Favorite Sports Teams

    Houston Gamblers. San Antonio Gunslingers. Dallas Mavericks. Oklahoma Outlaws. Philadelphia Stars. Tampa Bay Bandits. New Orleans Breakers. Dallas Cowboys. UNT Mean Green. UH Rainbow Warriors.

  • Favorite Coaches

    Tom Landry. Mouse Davis. Jim Mora. Jim Stanley. Don Coryell. Marty Schottenhiemer. Kurt Bryan and Steve Humphries -Those dudes who made that split formation High School offense (the A-11) that was retroactively ruled illegal.

  • Unitas or Montana?

    ....not sure.

  • Jordan or Russell?

    Wilt.

  • Gretzky or Orr?

    Gretsky

  • Federer or Sampras?

    McEnroe

  • Tiger or Nicklaus?

    Tiger

  • ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-12 or SEC?

    SWC

Bulletin Board

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  • Shomari Williams posted 44 days ago

    Shomari Williams

    Hey I love your work on the CIS and was wondering if you could help me on a project I am doing on the CIS could you email me if interested studentblitz{at}gmail.com? Look forward to hearing from you

  • Jamie Barnes posted 113 days ago

    Jamie Barnes

    Read your story from Dec. 26, 2012 about New Mexico and Colorado State playing a role in the game of tug-of-war between the Big East and the MWC. Yours -- though using no primary sources or even much secondary attribution -- still had a sense of reason and objectivity that is missing in all the "THE BIG EAST IS DEAD" fad stories and their corresponding overreaction that the MWC is now somehow in a place of strength now that Boise State and (probably a disappointed) SDSU will remain in that league.

    Ultimately and ironically, I think common goals and a need for similar schools (in the Big East and MWC) to leverage themselves against the "access conferences" will move these two leagues more toward partnership and cooperation than the current undermining and rivalry between them.

  • Stephen Pace posted 445 days ago

    Stephen Pace

    I like your suggestions for the WAC. I have a short term (2012 only) solution for the WAC and the Big East. The two conferences should do a football only merger. The 7 WAC teams would 6 games against each other and 3 games against Big East teams. The 7 Big East teams would play each other and against 3 WAC teams. The winner of each division would play a conference championship game.

  • Chip Spangler posted 596 days ago

    Chip Spangler

    Tobi, I just finished reading your five-part series from last year regarding the Big East and potential conference expansion. Amazing stuff.

    If you have the time, I'd like your opinion on my article on "How the Big East Can Save the World" ... the article is here: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/873507-conference-realignment-how-the-big-east-can-save-the-world

    It's about how the Big East can save BE football in the short-term and how it can fix the conference realignment issues in college athletics for the long-term.

  • Lee Moses posted 894 days ago

    Lee Moses

    Hey, Tobi. I haven't seen you put in your 2 cents yet on the McCarney hire. What say you?

  • Crayton posted 921 days ago

    Crayton

    The WAC is expanding with 2 Texas schools. Time for us to revisit the UNT-WAC issue.

  • Steve Thompson posted 1046 days ago

    Steve Thompson

    Thanks for reading and commenting on my articles, Tobi. As I mentioned in my article, the Commissioner has to be careful in his responses because things could blow up in his face, like they did with his predecessors. And Ottawa has already blown up in Mark Cohon's face because it was supposed to rejoin the CFL this year and instead it got postponed for three years minimum. So you can understand why he was cautious and vague with his answers. I would have preferred a more visionary response but it is understandable why he was cautious. As far as the stadium goes, I'm disappointed with its reputed size though it can be expanded to 45,000 when necessary. But the CFL does have a stated policy of 25,000 minimum seats and Ottawa is the fourth largest city in Canada. I was hoping for a stadium of 35,000 which could be expanded by about 20,000 when necessary. But after the waning of CFL support during the last 30 years, everybody is satisfied with a cautious size stadium.

  • Eddie Dzurilla posted 1078 days ago

    Eddie Dzurilla

    Hey, want some more links on runors of Baylor joining the Big 12 instead of CO? Chuckle..

  • Steve Thompson posted 1084 days ago

    Steve Thompson

    Hi Tobi, if you want to hear what the CFL Commissioner has to say, you can read my latest article.

  • Scott Wilson posted 1111 days ago

    Scott Wilson

    Hey Tobi.

    Based on your last comment on my article, I thought I would shoot this workpaper to you that I ran across a while back:

    Financial Considerations for the Montana State University
    Athletic Department
    http://www.montana.edu/upba/pdf/execsummary.pdf

    It is an interesting look into that schools thought process, strategy, and decision-making regarding athletics.

    Here is another one that has good insight:

    Rationale for the University of Wyoming To Remain Division I-A (FBS)
    http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/accreditation/Resources/B/03_Athletics_div_1A_response.pdf

    Hope that helps develop any ideas on that article you were talking about.

    -Scott

    P.S. Did you get that book yet?

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